The first of this Malice Domestic series introduces semi-retired Judge Penelope Godbold. Called �Baby� by friends and family, though ironically of Amazonian proportions, she is visiting relatives in Barton, a tiny hamlet in the backwoods of Tennessee, which is being restored to its former glory. It was settled in the 1800s by younger sons of English peers, whose local servants came from a group of mysterious people called Melungeons, creating a clash of cultures. Baby�s visit starts off with a murder of a stranger who had been seen in the woods, a shy painter that no one recognizes. This is followed by another murder, while a wild child named Jincie and her moonshiner father Jack figure prominently in the story. Also concerned is the restoration community�s director, Alistair, and a budding winemaker, Sam. The hamlet is being chronicled by writer Cleo Connery, also a guest of the Godbolds. An attractive TBI investigator arrives to assist the judge as she ferrets out the culprit, which leads to an arrest.
